Hafiz Saeed's name not on list of 75 militants handed over by US: Khawaja Asif

Foreign minister says Haqqani network on top the list, none of the militants are Pakistanis

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday that Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed's name was not on the list of 75 militants the US had handed over to Pakistan.

"The Haqqani network is on the top of the list but none of the militants are Pakistanis," Asif told senators during a session of the parliament's upper house, Express News reported.

The minister said the US had been told that Pakistan no longer had influence over the Afghan Taliban as it did in the past.

"Neither are we supporting them [Afghan Taliban], nor do they need our help," he added. "Somebody else is sponsoring them now."

Asif asserted that many of the key Taliban names were now shadow governors in Afghanistan or no longer alive.



On his maiden visit to Islamabad on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, while renewing the US demand seeking action against Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network, said many of the solutions to the regional challenges have to be found in Pakistan.

He pressed Pakistan to speed up its efforts against terrorism but described Islamabad as ‘incredibly important’ player to deal with some of the pressing challenges facing the region.

Equal terms

The minister emphasised the need for relations with the US on equal terms.

He maintained that Pakistan had entered into a major agreement with the Americans following 9/11, and was now facing its fallout.

The US, he added, had made a habit of handing over lists of wanted people to Pakistan, which traded them for favours - a matter that needed to be debated.



Asif told the senators that Pakistan had not compromised in response to US President Donald Trump's new Af-Pak policy. “We made it clear that we don't need financial aid; our dignity is more important to us,” he added.

"Peace in Pakistan is interrelated with peace in Afghanistan. We've told the US that its military solution won't work and dialogue is the only way forward."

India, Asif continued, was playing the biggest role in destabilising the region and Afghanistan was assisting the former as a facilitator. “Militants from Afghanistan are responsible for the unrest in Pakistan," he maintained.